


there's always next year

by sportsnightnut



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-08-01 15:56:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16287509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sportsnightnut/pseuds/sportsnightnut
Summary: Scully knows better than to ask Mulder what he wants for his birthday.For leiascully's XF Writing Challenge prompt #4, “gifts.”





	there's always next year

**Author's Note:**

> This is a little drabble for @leiascully's XF Writing Challenge prompt #4, “gifts.” I had visions of turning this into something more, but I kind of enjoyed the brevity here. :) Happy birthday, Mulder.

Scully knows better than to ask Mulder what he wants for his birthday.

She tried, once.

In their first year of working together, she’d asked. In passing, almost, trying to hide the shyness in her voice. Some kind of line that suggested _I don’t want to let on how much I like you, but I want you to know that I like you enough to get you something for your birthday._

He’d smiled at her from across the desk. “You don’t need to get me anything, Scully.”

“Well, Mulder, let’s suppose that isn’t an option,” she pushed back, returning the smile. “What would you like for your birthday?”

Mulder shakes his head. “The only thing I want for my birthday is for the Yankees to make it to the World Series. But they’re out of the playoffs. They ended the season 4th in the AL East. They were never even in it.” He sighs. “That’s the trouble, being a baseball fan with an October birthday. You can’t always get what you want.”

One week later, he comes into the office to find a chocolate cake donut sitting next to a brand new Yankees hat, a card leaning against it.

 _There’s always next year, it says,_ in Scully’s script _. Maybe this will be a lucky cap._

(It isn’t, at least for the Yankees, although they do finish second in their division. But Mulder likes to think this cap brings his life a little bit of luck. He wears it every Saturday, packs it in his bag for every trip, leaves it in a prominent place atop his dresser so he can look at it each time he walks by. It’ll still be his favorite cap twenty-something years later.)


End file.
